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Criminal Justice System Overhaul Needed, Say Analysts and Activists

(FinalCall.com) – In 2014 Black America’s suffering increased at the hands of angry White men in black and blue, who are sworn to protect and serve. But responses to police killings and attacks must be stricter and stronger because police reforms have not worked, analysts say.

“The police represent the state. They are not there to serve the interest of the people, so we have to start with that concept,” said Elaine Brown, a former Black Panther leader. The long-time activist said she couldn’t point to any police reforms that have worked, but she offered some that wouldn’t be difficult to enact, starting with community policing and residency as a priority for qualifying officers.

Officers also need to get out of cars and walk streets, instead of patrolling all day and then jumping out on people and shooting, she added.

“Ain’t nobody going into Beverly Hills slapping nobody upside the head and shooting people because they ran out the store, but kids are stealing all day long in Beverly Hills. But the police are out there. They’re Officer Friendly. Everybody knows them,” Ms. Brown said.

“But in the case of the Black community, given our oppressed and depressed status, then we should have police that understand that community. So if they don’t live there, they should at least be walking the beat, so they know Mr. Jones is going to get drunk on Friday night, so there’s not a reason to kill him, or those boys are doing whatever it is they’re doing, but it’s a question of community control,” she said.

Part of community control can be reflected in simple reforms, but not cameras, she said. “We already know what that does: Nothing. Although that’s helpful at the end of the day if the camera’s turned on, if they’re not lying and fixing up stuff, acting like it didn’t work that day, and all of that other stuff they do,” Ms. Brown argued.

People need a police force that actually has a relationship in the community, but many forces are strikingly different, like Oakland, where at minimum 80 percent of the police are White and don’t live there, Ms. Brown told The Final Call.

In Ferguson, Mo., the epicenter for protests against police killings and brutality, Blacks make up more than 67 percent of Ferguson’s population, yet there are only three Blacks on its 53-man police force. “You’ve got racial divide. You’ve got White cops policing Black communities … and that’s not to say that the Blacks don’t often participate in this stuff; but generally speaking, if you live in the neighborhood, you ain’t going to be shooting Billy Bob like it ain’t nothing. You’ve got to go home. It’s just a practical question really,” Ms. Brown argued.

The irony, she said, is the recent spate of police killings didn’t occur in the South, but rather in places like New York. Then there was the non-indictment of officers in the Aug. 5 police killing of John Crawford in a Walmart in Dayton, Ohio, which has many feeling it’s “open season” on Blacks.

Between Michael Brown, Jr., the unarmed 18-year-old shot to death in Ferguson and John Crawford, killed in the toy gun aisle of a Wal-Mart, there were other Black and Latino men, youth and women slain by police.

Even the outgoing U.S. attorney general admits crime reduction is tied to public trust. In early December, Attorney General Eric Holder said President Barack Obama had instructed his team to draft an executive order creating a Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The task force will prepare a report and recommendations within 90 days of its creation.

President Obama has also proposed a three-year, $263 million investment in 50,000 body-worn cameras for police officer, expanded training for law enforcement agencies, and additional resources for police reform, including additional opportunities for the Department of Justice to facilitate community and local law enforcement engagement.

“Particularly in light of recent incidents we’ve seen at the local level and the concerns about trust in the criminal justice process which so many have raised throughout the nation, it’s imperative that we take every possible action to institute sound, fair and strong policing practices,” Atty. Holder said.

The Justice for Mike Brown Leadership Coalition’s Five Point Plan of Action calls for creation of civilian review boards, use of cameras and cell phones to document encounters with police and creation of a national database to document charges of police harassment and brutality.

The National Urban League’s 10 recommendations include review and revision of police use of deadly force policies, widespread use of body and patrol car dashboard cameras, and appointment of special prosecutors to investigate police misconduct.

Many aren’t convinced such “reforms” will do much good. “Let’s just say they did work. The lapel cameras can show a police officer in the wrong, and, they go before a grand jury. We’ve still got to get past the grand jury level. We’ve still got to get past a district attorney who is going to prosecute that police officer … his best friend,” commented Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson.

Despite reforms gained by his family and the Oakland community after former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer Johannes Mehserle fatally shot his unarmed nephew Oscar Grant, III. on a station platform on Jan. 1, 2008, not much has changed, said the activist.

If by chance people get past a prosecutor, they still have to deal with juries that are so overwhelmed with White supremacy that Blacks, Whites and Latinos tend to rule in favor of police, Mr. Johnson continued.

People can still be forced to peel away layers of the criminal justice system, only to be denied justice by a judge who overturns a just jury verdict, as did L.A. Judge Robert Perry in his nephew’s case, Mr. Johnson said.

“We’ve seen it over and over again … in reality, it’s no fairness. It’s just protection of police officers, so the simple reforms of a police officer does not take away the ill-effect of the criminal justice system. This whole system has to be revamped,” he told The Final Call.

The Justice for Oscar Grant movement was able to get lapel cameras for officers, additional training on handling mental health patients, a law allowing for an independent auditor that would report directly to the BART Board and investigate public complaints, an 11-man citizen review board to participate in disciplinary actions and 81 recommendations tied to police use of force, training, and community engagement. The suggestions came out of an independent review of BART by the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.

“Whether those reforms have done anything or actually helped, I’d have to say from what I’m seeing on a consistent basis, no,” Mr. Johnson said.

The oversight review board and the auditor were never adequately funded by BART and both are controlled by the police chief, who can deny any claim, he continued. While people can appeal to the department’s general manager, normally, the general manager will side with the chief, so no real improvements have been made, Mr. Johnson said.

“In many respects, we still have no real ability to implement any kind of punishment or terminate a police officer when they’re actually in the wrong,” Mr. Johnson said. As for lapel cameras, officers still aren’t turning them on when needed, he said.

BART police are supposed to activate cameras before making contact with anyone, but in Dublin, Calif., where one officer was shot by another during a probation search, none of the officers present either wore or activated their cameras, he noted.

“These officers are turning them on and off at will to cover themselves when they know they’re in the wrong. Again, here we have another failure of some type of reform when it comes to cameras not working. Officers can’t be held accountable if the lapel cameras are not turned on, or, if they’re turned off during encounters, there has to be real harsh discipline, and that isn’t taking place,” he said.

In mid-April, activists pressed to no avail Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck to find and discipline officers who broke antennas on police vehicles and interfered with audio recordings made while patrolling predominantly Black and Brown communities.

Officers removed 72 of approximately 160 antennas from cars that patrolled South L.A. the L.A. Times reported. Officials didn’t investigate who broke the antennas, nor did department officials, but they did issue warnings and put an antenna tracking plan in place for each shift.

In the midst of #BlackLivesMatter protests over the non-indictments in the Michael Brown, Jr. and Eric Garner killings, activists noted that police murders of Blacks have a long history and are not something that occurred overnight.

Calls for reform aren’t new either, activists note.

“First of all, they don’t need no reform. They already know the law,” insisted Amen Rahh, professor emeritus of Africana Studies at California State University-Long Beach. “It’s the whole criminal justice system, not just the police beating you and shooting you. It’s the justice system that lets them go when they do it.”

“They don’t need reform to treat White folks. Why they need reform to treat us? They just need to have a balance, and they must pay a price, a national price, whenever they hurt any African American anywhere.”

Prof. Rahh recommended using an independent Black political party to push legislation that punishes abusive cops and hold hearings on violations of law. Blacks also need a national economic policy and must pursue their own agenda to survive, he added.

“As long as we’re marching for peace, reform and policy change, they’ve been dealing with that for years. They don’t care about that, because they’ve been killing us all the time … but we must push our agenda, a Black national empowerment program, from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s teachings. He always taught us to be organized as a people and to develop unity,” Prof. Rahh said.

Blacks Gain Most from Obamacare When Medicaid Expanded

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – As families prepare to choose health insurance coverage during the open enrollment period, a recent report by the Urban Institute shows that Blacks have the most to gain from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) if the states they live in expand Medicaid under the law.

The Urban Institute, a nonprofit research group focused on social and economic policy, estimated that Blacks will experience, “the largest decreases in uninsurance rates under full Medicaid expansion: a drop from 11.3 percent (projected with current expansion decisions) to 7.2 percent” and the uninsurance rate gap between Blacks and Whites will fall from 6.5 percent under current Medicaid expansion to 2.6 percent with full expansion.

However, the gap between Black and White uninsurance rates will remain closer to 7 percent, at least for the near future, because most Blacks live in states that have refused to expand Medicaid under the ACA.

The original law, passed in 2010, mandated Medicaid expansion nationwide, but the United States Supreme Court 2012 decision in the National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius case reversed that provision, leaving it to the states to decide whether they want to take additional Medicaid funding under the ACA.

According to the Urban Institute, “As of December 2014, 27 states and the District of Columbia had expanded Medicaid or planned to expand by January 2015.”

The Urban Institute projected that Blacks would comprise 12.8 percent of all coverage gains under current Medicaid expansion policies and 2.9 million Blacks would get health insurance. The uninsurance rate for Blacks would fall from 19.6 percent to 11.3 percent.

More than half of all Blacks live in states, primarily in the South and led by Republican governors, that didn’t expand Medicaid after the ACA was passed in 2010.

When states refused to expand Medicaid, the move trapped Blacks in a “coverage gap,” because many of them don’t meet the income-based requirements to qualify for Medicaid under their own state rules or to receive subsidies through the ACA marketplace.

About 1.4 million Blacks fall into this category, accounting for more than 23 percent of the uninsured non-elderly adult Blacks. For example, in Florida, Georgia, Texas and North Carolina, the uninsured rates for Blacks would plummet roughly 30 percent compared to current rates, if those states expanded Medicaid coverage under the ACA.

“For blacks, however, the difference between their uninsurance rates and whites’ rates is projected to narrow under the ACA with current Medicaid expansion decisions only in Medicaid expansion states,” the report said. “Across all states, the difference in uninsurance rates between blacks and whites is projected to stay approximately the same both under the ACA with current Medicaid expansion decisions and without the ACA.”

In August 2014, researchers with the Urban Institute said that 6.7 million residents would still remain uninsured in 2016 in the states that continued to block Medicaid expansion through the ACA.

“These states are foregoing $423.6 billion in federal Medicaid funds from 2013 to 2022, which will lessen economic activity and job growth,” the August 2014 report said. “Hospitals in these 24 states are also slated to lose a $167.8 billion (31 percent) boost in Medicaid funding that was originally intended to offset major cuts to their Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.”

The report continued: “For every $1 a state invests in Medicaid expansion, $13.41 in federal funds will flow into the state.”

The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), a small group that offers the president domestic and foreign economic advice, predicted that, Medicaid expansion would have added, in nonexpanding states, nearly 79,000 jobs in 2014, “172,400 jobs in 2015, and 98,200 jobs in 2016.”

The August 2014 report also noted that that the rate of uninsured in the states that expanded Medicaid fell by nearly 40 percent, since September 2013, the number of uninsured in the non-expansion states fell by less than 10 percent.

The technical difficulties that plagued the rollout of HealthCare.gov last year have faded from headlines, and the benefits of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act become harder for governors and state legislators to dismiss.

In December, Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam moved to expand Medicaid under the ACA, leaving less than two dozen states to weigh providing health care for their poorest residents against future costs associated with Medicaid.

The Urban Institute report on uninsurance rates under the ACA said that improving health literacy, translation services, outreach through ethnic media and working with trusted members of the community can also aid in driving down the levels of uninsured.

According to a recent report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 87 percent of the people who selected health insurance plans through HealthCare.gov were eligible for financial assistance, a 7 percent increase over last year’s numbers.

“That includes more than 3.4 million people who selected a plan in the 37 states that are using the HealthCare.gov platform for 2015, and more than 600,000 consumers who selected plans in the 14 states that are operating their own Marketplace platform for 2015,” stated a press release on the report.

A more detailed view of enrollment data collected from November 15 to December 26 showed that roughly 6.5 million people either selected plans or were automatically reenrolled.

HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said that the vast majority of people who signed up for health insurance coverage through HealthCare.gov were able to lower their costs using tax credits.

“Interest in the Marketplace has been strong during the first month of open enrollment,” Burwell said in a recent press release about the enrollment report. “We still have a ways to go and a lot of work to do before February 15, but this is an encouraging start.”

WASHINGTON — The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund today released preliminary fatality statistics for 2014. The data in the report shows that 126 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers were killed in the line of duty this year. The report further showed that in 2014, 50 officers were killed by firearms, 49 officers were killed in traffic-related incidents, and 27 officers died due to other causes including 24 who suffered from job-related illnesses—such as heart attacks—while performing their duties.

Attorney General Eric Holder made the following statement today:

“These troubling statistics underscore the very real dangers that America’s brave law enforcement officers face every time they put on their uniforms. Each loss is both tragic and unacceptable — a beloved father, mother, son, or daughter who never came home to their loved ones.

“That’s why, over the last six years, my colleagues and I have taken action to support these courageous men and women. As we speak, the Justice Department continues its efforts to empower local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement personnel to do their jobs as safely and effectively as possible. In 2011, I created an Officer Safety Working Group in response to concerns about violence directed at law enforcement. The department is currently funding thorough analysis of 2014 officer fatalities, including ambushes of law enforcement and other incidents, so we can mitigate risks in the future. And through groundbreaking initiatives like VALOR, we are providing cutting-edge training to help prevent violence against law enforcement, to improve officer resilience, and to increase survivability during violent encounters.

“Through our Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program, we’re helping to provide lifesaving equipment to those who serve on the front lines. And through the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program, we’re offering our strongest support to our brave officers and their loved ones in the toughest of times.

“Going forward, this unshakeable commitment to those who serve will continue to guide our efforts to improve 21st-century policing and build trust between law enforcement and the communities they protect.

“I have always been proud to support these selfless public servants. All Americans owe our courageous law enforcement personnel a tremendous debt of gratitude for their patriotic service, for their often-unheralded sacrifices, and for the dangers they routinely face in the name of public safety.”

The Nigga Project

By Kimetha HillSpecial to the NNPA from the San Diego Voice & Viewpoint

Nigger. A very abrasive word. A very volatile word. A very powerful word. A word that has caused generations of damage to an entire culture of people. The word comes from very dark roots, but has somehow “conformed” to the liking of many, many black folks. Now a “term of endearment” the word, “nigga” is thrown around like “hello” among circles of young people. Mulemvo Nianda, documentary filmmaker and sociology student, grew frustrated with the use of the word especially among the younger generations and developed a short documentary on the word.

“The motivation behind it was all the negativity I saw going on with the N-word,” said Nianda. He describes how the word is littered among popular rap songs of stars including Nicki Minaj and other artists who choose to utilize limited vocabulary in their expressions. “All of these songs are coming out and nobody was really saying anything or giving an alternative to it. So I felt that I should take it upon myself to put out an alternative for the young people to look at,” he added.

Inspired by his Black Studies class, Nianda set out to interview people at random in a “man on the street” type setting to capture reactions to the word “nigga” on camera. Thus, The Nigga Project Experience was birthed.

“I put out The Nigga Project by going around the city and asking different people how they felt about the word. And then it formulated into the first documentary, The Nigga Project Part I. The demand was high for it so I did Part II.”

The Nigga Project is an extension of a research project on which Nianda worked during his studies. Diving into the community and asking questions was something that came naturally to him. In Part I, Nianda felt it best to randomly select people for responses to the word. Some were classmates, some were old, very few were young, but his selection was random.

“I tried to target young men, but a lot of the younger men didn’t want to get on camera. The older generation was more willing to be on camera and talk about it and how they felt. In Part I, I only have one or two young people in it because they didn’t want that face time.” And though they may have still chosen to discuss their feelings with Nianda, they opted not to be interviewed on camera.

The reactions to the word were interesting, and Nianda points to the emotion the word provoked in many who were interviewed.

“The majority of the responses were not necessarily positive. But with the young people, I found that they were more accepting of it,” says Nianda as he cites the uses that can be heard in younger generation circles. “That’s my nigga, that’s my homie, that’s my brother.” But he says, “With the older generation, 35 and up, it’s more so like a negative word, a term that we shouldn’t be using. A lot of them want to eradicate the word, but they don’t really know how to.”

As the project grew, the generation divide was made clear to Nianda. The word provokes emotions, emotions of pain and hurt for older generations, emotions that seem to be lacking among the consciousness of youth. But Nianda felt instead of condemning the youth, education on the word must happen.

“A lot of them [youth] don’t know the history behind the word, and when they do know it’s still kind of like ‘That doesn’t have anything to do with me. That was then.’ They don’t really have an emotional connection to the word. And that was another goal of The Nigga Project – to emotionally connect the youth to the origin behind the word – the real intent behind the word. A lot of them don’t know that it’s negative. And if they do know it’s negative, they don’t really care that it’s negative. So if I could emotionally connect them to the original intent behind it, I felt that would give them a standpoint to go from.”

Nianda’s documentary has been shown at several venues around San Diego, as his aim is to spark as much discussion about the word as possible. He took his film everywhere including restaurants, beauty salons, the Urban League and the Jacobs Center.

“We try to go to different spots and have discussions afterwards. And it’s a mixed crowd, it’s not just blacks that come. I feel like everybody can chime in on the topic regardless of race, whether you agree with the word or not. I feel like everybody should have a voice. And that’s what happens at the discussions. We just give people the opportunity to share how they feel about the word,” says Nianda. “Maybe somebody in the room can be educated on a different perspective.” It is through these discussions that Nianda hopes to bridge the generation gap and enlighten the masses.

“I just want to give a voice to the younger generation. I feel like a lot of them do have a voice, but they don’t feel like the older generation is going to hear them. The older generation is focused in other things that they kind of lag behind in teaching us on how to carry ourselves, or how to be or do certain things.”

In Part III, Nianda says he will specifically target young black men since the word is used so heavily in those circles. He plans to hold a youth summit at the Malcolm X Library in July where his documentary will be shown.

What began as an extension of a research project on YouTube has grown to reach a large audience. “I’m just happy to see the people and educate our community,” he says.

Another Shooting, Another Clash, Another Police Cam Fails Near Ferguson, Mo.

BERKELEY, Mo. – This small town just two miles west of Ferguson, Mo., has become another flashpoint for anger and protests over police shootings of young Black males.

Despite its Black mayor’s insistence that the police shooting death of 18-year-old Antonio Martin was justified skepticism abounds. Protests have mounted and clashes between police officers and demonstrators have occurred.

“My anger is coming from the fact that how he was treated afterwards, he was left on the ground for over a half an hour and could have been saved. There’s a hospital less than a half a mile down the road. I feel they were making a point like sending a point across, like don’t mess with the police,” said Sylvester Dixon, 24, who described himself as a good friend of the shooting victim.

Police officials say the young man and another person were approached by a police officer about a theft but Mr. Martin pulled a gun and pointed it at the officer. The officer fired his weapon in response and videotape shows the encounter, officials said. Yet a body camera issued to the officer involved was not on, nor was a dash cam. Critics also contend a third video clearly showing what happened has been withheld by police. Two grainy videos are proof the Black teen was armed and dangerous, and a weapon was found at the scene, officials said. Doubts remain and the victim’s family insists he was not armed.

“The way they left him and picked him up and put him in a van and drove off with him I think that’s totally disrespectful. If you shot him that’s one thing, okay the situation was under control,” said Mr. Dixon, who stood near a makeshift memorial to his friend.

“He just sat there and bled out, he moaned and he grunted, and moved around and we sitting here looking at him. It just hurt. They put him in a minivan and drove off with him. I believe he would still be alive if they would have rushed him to the emergency room that’s less than a mile down the road. I kind of understand where the officer is coming from. It wasn’t my little brother’s fault. He’s a Black male, him being a young Black man it just makes him a little more dangerous and made the police more cautious but it’s not his fault the color of his skin. The officer may have just seen him and got scared with all this stuff going on with the cops being killed and it could have been handled better.

“Everybody just mad because he just sat there and bled for hours and no one treated him. They didn’t treat him like a human being. They treated him like evidence,” said Mr. Dixon, who is also from Berkeley.

Antonio Martin was the fourth young Black man killed by a White police officer in the St. Louis metropolitan area since 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed in early August, setting off a wave of anti-police misconduct and police accountability protests that have spread across the country. Kajieme Powell, 25, was shot and killed Aug. 19 by two St. Louis police officers for allegedly approaching them with a knife. Vonderrit Myers, Jr., was shot to death Oct. 8 by an off-duty uniformed St. Louis police officer who claimed the 18-year-old fired a weapon at him.

The Dec. 23 killing of young Martin was described as justified by St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmer at a press conference shortly after the shooting, where he declined to show the entire video clip of the incident.

“There’s no reason for the family of this young man to see the rest of this video,” said Chief Belmer. “The individual produced a pistol with his arms straight out pointing at the officer across the hood of the police car. The officer was standing by the driver’s door of the vehicle and the suspect was on the other side where the passenger’s headlight is counter corner from the officer. When the officer was encountered with the pistol, he quickly moved backwards. He eventually loses his balance and falls backwards,” said Chief Belmer.

However, another camera view appears to contradict the chief’s account. It clearly shows the two men standing on the driver’s side of the police car and not where Chief Belmer said they were. The video also showed Mr. Martin reaching in his pocket and pulling out an object that had a glow to it. He extended it and walked toward the officer. The other young man standing there with him didn’t appear to be affected by Mr. Martin’s actions. But when the police officer fires at Mr. Martin, the companion jumps back and runs.

Several hundred people quickly gathered at the shooting scene and demanded medical assistance for Mr. Martin. Chief Belmer said it is standard procedure to leave a body on the ground for an extended period of time at a crime scene.

Berkeley EMS responded within five minutes, examined the teen and pronounced him dead, said the chief.

Witnesses, however, contend that after two and a half hours no EMS tended to the young man.

After several attempts by The Final Call to verify the actual time of death, Berkeley police dispatcher Henny redirected calls to the St. Louis County Police department, which is handling the initial investigation. Police Officer Schellman of media relations was not available to answer questions at Final Call press time.

As the crowd grew to more than 300 people the night of the shooting, some 50 law enforcement vehicles surrounded the area trying to get the angry crowd under control, said eyewitnesses.

The situation grew more tense and confrontational, said Paul Muhammad of the Peacekeepers, a group that has tried to keep order during demonstrations. Mr. Muhammad said he stopped an officer from attacking his wife, a co-founder of the group. The Peacekeepers typically position themselves between police and protesters.

“The police officer went and assaulted and pushed my wife and was about to swing and hit my wife so I went over to her defense. I pushed the police officer off her and he came at me and told the other police to ‘go get that bitch.’ So my wife was actually able to get away. So he came for me, grabbed me and put me in a chokehold and about four or five other officers came, grabbed me and jumped on my back, held me in a chokehold for about 10 seconds and threw me to the ground. He hopped on top of me and got in my ear, started punching me in my eye and talking in my ear. He busted my head. He started calling me ‘nigger bitch, I told you I was going to get you, you nigger bitch.’ He then went on to say he was going to kill me and he asked for my ID. He said he was going to come to my house, but I didn’t have my ID so he wasn’t able to get my information. Then they tried to hogtie and cuff me. Then a brother from the county police department came named Damier. He didn’t stop them but he came and made his presence and got close to me and actually grabbed me and pulled me out the situation. And he stayed by me the whole time with his hands on my shoulder until they were able to pull me over to another position and put me into the police van. The brother was very helpful and keeping me from getting hurt any further and I asked him to keep me safe because I was in cuffs and vulnerable at that point and he told me he would.

“He got my keys and my phone and gave it to my wife and the brother showed me a lot of respect and love he just couldn’t say much. The racist officer that assaulted and threatened me was B. Fisher of the St. John’s police department. We were out there intervening to keep the peace as we always do, to keep our people accountable and to keep the situation as peaceful as possible given the circumstances and emotion and passion and anger. But we were deescalating the growing chaos and the police were cognizant of who we were,” said Mr. Muhammad.

“They just were not happy and agitated that our people were out there expressing their dissatisfaction for the continued killing and murder of our young brothers and sisters. Yet we were not doing anything to create chaos, instead we were trying to diminish the chaos. And we were making the police accountable and stopping them from attacking our people.

“We told them we don’t want you to indiscriminately hurt our people so step back and we will deal with our own, we’ll police ourselves. So they got aggressive with us and actually three of the Peacekeepers got arrested that night, all of the brothers out there got arrested. … The brother didn’t get any medical care and was moving for a while and I have a picture of the medical van and license plates that picked him up and took him away. I understand that not to be protocol and they never sent an ambulance at all.”

During the time of the shooting, the officer did not have his body cam attached to his uniform and the dash cam was not on.

When Chief Belmer was questioned about the dash and body cams, the chief responded, “the dash cam is activated by the red lights and weren’t on at the time.”

The officer did not get his body cam assigned to him at roll call and it was handed off to him during his shift, the chief continued.

When the officer was asked why he didn’t have it on he claimed he was doing something and clipped it on somewhere in his car but intended to put it on, Chief Belmer said. “Sometimes there’s imperfection with the technology we have, in affect we are not used to it all the time,” he added.

The mayor of Berkeley told the media, the small department, just five officers only had three body cams, and time was needed to download video between shifts, but that had not happened. He appealed for donations of more body cams.